Motorized railway scale test car

ABSTRACT

A railway scale testing car of a known weight which is self propelling and which has jacks designed to lift the entire car and truck on a short section of rail including special retaining brackets to lift the wheels and axles as well.

United States Patent 91 Barnard et al.

[451 Jan. 15, 1974 MOTORIZED RAILWAY SCALE TEST CAR [75] Inventors:Benjamin R. Barnard, Minnetonka; Douglas A. Puariea, St. Paul, both ofMinn.

[73] Assignee: The Maxson Corporation, Ramsey,

Minn.

[22] Filed: July 26, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 166,084

[52] US. Cl. 105/112, 73/1 B, 73/146, 105/116, 105/217, 105/218 R,105/238 R,

[51] Int. Cl. ..B61c 7/00, B61c 9/00, B61d 15/00 [58] Field of Search73/1 B, 1 R, 146;

105/112, 116,177, 217, 218 R, 219, 238 R; 177/1, 50,145,146,163;254/86R; 104/1 R;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,099,405' 6/1914 Stein254/86 R X 3,450,062 6/1969 Pradon 105/177 399,152 3/1889- McLean105/116 1,799,943 4/1931 Alden 105/218 R X 1,189,637 7/1916 Summers105/219 X 1,526,530 2/1925 Clifford 254/86 R 1,646,310 10/1927 Osthoff105/116 398,207 2/1889 Weis 105/112 490,307 l/1893 Philipsbom et al105/1 12 Primary ExaminerGerald M. Forlenza Assistant Examinerl-lowardBeltran Att0rneyRobert M. Dunning [5 7] ABSTRACT A railway scale testingcar of a known weight which is self propelling and which has jacksdesigned to lift the entire car and truck on a short section of railincluding special retaining brackets to lift the wheels and axles aswell.

7 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures rah/85297 PATENTEBJAN 15 an SHEET 10F 4 3\N, va NN INVENTOR BENJAMIN R BARN/1RD D00 A8 ,4. PUAR/EA v wwammg' vATTORNEY MOTORIZED RAILWAY SCALE TEST CAR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONRailroads generally build car weighing scales directly into the railsand these scales are tested and calibrated from time to time by placingtest cars of known weight on the scale. Since the scales often encompassonly short sections of track the test cars have jacks underneath to liftthe entire car with the weight supported through the jacks onto theshort section of track. This is an expensive and time consumingoperation since the test cars must be shuttled about and positioned byvaluable engines and crews which could be better employed elsewhere. Toalleviate this problem our invention contemplates apparatus to make thetest car self propelling.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Our invention employs a set of smallhydraulically driven wheels pivoted under the test car which can bepivoted into rolling frictional contact with the main car wheels so asto propel the test car. Our invention also contemplates special bracketsdesigned to engage and lift the wheels of the test car whenever the testcar itself is raised on the jacks. Another improvement disclosed hereininvolves the use of guide bars and springs attached to the jacks to keepthem aligned with the tracks and prevent them from accidentally droppingto the rails. Thus, it may be seen that it is an object of my inventionto provide an improved scale testing car which can be propelled by asingle man thus eliminating the necessity of using expensive engines andcrews to move them around. It is a further object of my invention toprovide a scale testing car which is safer to operate by virtue ofhaving wheel lifting brackets which secure the wheels firmly inalignment with the tracks and further with mechanisms designed to insurethat the jacks remain in alignment with the tracks. Further objects andadvantages will become apparent upon consideration of the followingdescription and drawings.

.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top view of the railwaycar of the present invention showing generally the location of thelifting jacks, the brackets designed to lift the wheels, and the selfpropellingmechanism.

FIG. 2 is aside elevation sectional view showing the railway car on therail.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation sectional view showing the railway car andtruck lifted by its internal jacks off the rail.

FIG. 4 is an end sectionalview of a portion of the railway car of FIG. 1showing the brackets designed to lift the wheels clear of the track.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another embodiment ofthebrackets thatcanbe used for lifting the wheels with the car.

FIG. 6 is aside view of a portion of a car of FIG. 1 showing therelative positions of the lifting brackets, theselfpropelling mechanism,and showing in particular the guide bars and springs attached to thejacks for keeping them aligned with the tracks.

FIG. 7 andFIG. 8 show overhead and side view re spectively ofttheselfpropelling mechanism.

F IG.-9'is a detailed view of the gear drive mechanism used. in the selfpropelling apparatus.

FIG. 10 is a view of a prior art main truck support omitted from theother figures to make the inventive components more visible.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIG. 1 a top view of thescale testing car of the present invention is presented. The position ofthe four lifting jacks 16 may easily be seen in FIG. 1 along with theposition of the wheels 12 and the self propelling mechanism which isbetween the left set of wheels and the center of the car. The selfpropelling mechanism will be described at length later on. In FIG. 2 aside elevation view of the car of FIG. 1 is presented. Lifting jacks 16have rail gripping members 14 at their bottom end which are extendeddownward against the rail and used to lift the car as shown in FIG. 3.In order to insure that all the wheels of the car are lifted clear ofthe rails but remain in alignment with the car, a series of J- shapedbrackets 18 are fastened to the bottom of the car so as to extendunderneath the axle 11 supporting wheels 12. These brackets are moreclearly shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 6. Generally the brackets comprise apair of J-shaped members 18 spaced by a plate 17. The lower portion ofthe J-shaped members have a notch in them so that axle ll restscomfortably on the J-shaped bracket. In FIG. 4 it should be noticed thatbrackets 18 are spaced far enough apart so that wheels 12 can be liftedwithout any danger of them tilting either to the left or to the right.However, the brackets are limited as to how far apart they can be placedby the fact that the entire wheel and axle arrangement must pivotsomewhat when the test car travels around curves. It should be notedthat each set of wheels 12 are mounted under the main deck withconventional railway trucks such as truck 13 shown in FIG. 10 only.These trucks are not shown in the other figures for the sake of clarity.These prior art trucks typically utilize a pair of axles 11 which extendthrough wheels 12 to support side beams 15 from underneath. The deck 10of the scale car rests on a pivot bearing member 19a in the center of atransverse beam 19. Transverse beam 19 is carried by a plurality ofsprings 21 which rest in pockets in side beams 15.

An alternate bracket embodiment is shown in FIG. 5 in which U-shapedbrackets are used to lift axle 11 and wheel 12. Here the brackets areformed from a pair of L-shaped pieces 20-which are bolted by means ofbolts 28 to the bottom of the car and connected together by notchedmembers 24 which are looped underneath axle ll.

Returning to FIG. 6 it may be seen that rail gripping members 14 havesmall tabs and 81 extending from both sides'from which a set of springs83 and extend upwards to deck member 87. Also connected to tabs 80 and81 are a pair of guide bars 82 and 84 which travel up through guideholes in deck 89 and operate to insure that rail gripping members 14stay in the positions shown in FIG. 6, namely, in alignment with therail. Springs 83 and 85 insure tha trail gripping member 14 cannot dropto the ground in the event of a hydraulic pressure failure in jack 16.

Referring now to FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 the self propelling mechanism will bedescribed. A sub frame 40 formed from a pair of side brackets 30 and across member 42 is pivoted underneath the car by means of a pair ofparallel pivot brackets 32 and 34. Using two pivot brackets insures thatsub frame 40 will remain relatively parallel to the ground and to thebottom of the railway car. Mounted on cross member 42 are a pair ofbearings 68 which carry an axle 70 upon which two friction drive wheels64 and 66 are mounted. These wheels are turned by a gear 60 on axle 70which is driven in turn by a gear 62 from a hydraulic motor 48 mountedon cross member 42 by means of a bracket 50 and a bracket 51. Crossmember 42 normally rests against a pair of stops 77 and 78 which arefastened to the bottom of car 10. Cross member 42 is held in thisposition by means of a hook 44 which wraps around cross member 42 and ispivoted on car 10. In order to activate the drive mechanism the operatorwho stands at the side of the car activates linkage rods 53 which move abell crank 51 and a linkage rod 49 so as to lift hook 44 from crossmember 42. At this point a pair of hydraulic cylinders 36 may beactivated so as to move brackets 30 and consequently sub frame 40forward by means of actuating rods 38. This presses drive wheels 64 and66 into contact with main wheels 12. At this point in time the hydraulicmotor 48 may be activated so as to turn gears 62 and 60, drive wheels 64and 66 and main wheels 12 thus moving the car either ahead or backdepending upon the direction of rotation chosen for hydraulic motor 48.It should be noted that hook 44 rests on top ofa skid plate 46 on crossmember 42. When the car is in position and the sub frame 42 isretracted, hook 44 again falls into place thus holding sub frame 40solidly against stop members 77 and 78, free and clear of wheels 12.

FIG. 9 presents a detailed drawing showing the mounting brackets 50 and51 for supporting drive motor 48 and gear 62 in engagement with gear 60.The rectangular configurationof cross piece 42 is also evident in FIG.9. Of course many variations may be made to the present inventionwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

While the rails R are illustrated in the drawings by single lines, itwill be understood that the rails are of conventional type, only theupper surfaces of the rails being indicated.

The lifting brackets shown include only two embodiments but otherarrangements will be readily obvious to one of ordinary skill in theart. Likewise, variations in the drive system may be possible includingdifferent mounting means for the drive wheels and different type ofdrive motors. Thus, the following claims are presented to cover theinvention in its proper scope and spirit.

I claim:

- 1. In a railway car for testing scales having a deck with axle carriedmain wheels mounted thereunder, and lifting means under said deck toengage the rails and lift the car on the rails the improvementcomprising means for self propelling said car including motor drivenmeans operable to be moved into frictional engagement with said wheelssaid motor driven means comprising a pivotally hung pair of drive wheelscarried on a sub frame pivoted on generally parallel pivot arms, inwhich the pair of drive wheels are pressed against the main wheels by ahydraulic cylinder connected between the deck and said sub frame.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 including a plurality of bracket meansmounted to the bottom of said deck and positioned to extend under theaxles of said axle carried wheels so as to lift said wheels from therails when the railway car is lifted by said lifting means.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 in which said motor driven means comprises adrive wheel means driven by hydraulic motor means.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 in which some of said bracket meanscomprises at least two J-shaped bracket members spaced far enough apartto carry said axle carried wheels without tilting.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 in which some of said bracket meanscomprises at least two U-shaped bracket members encircling the axles andsecured to the deck at both ends of the bracket said U-shaped bracketmembers spaced far enough apart to carry said axle carried wheelswithout tilting.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 including latch means to hold the pivotablepair of drive wheels clear of the main wheels.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 in which said lifting means compriseshydraulic jacks and including guide bars to keep the hydrualic jacks inalignment with the rails and further including springs connected betweensaid jacks and said deck to support said jacks against accidentallycontacting the rails.

1. In a railway car for testing scales having a deck with axle carriedmain wheels mounted thereunder, and lifting means under said deck toengage the rails and lift the car on the rails the improvementcomprising means for self propelling said car including motor drivenmeans operable to be moved into frictional engagement with said wheelssaid motor driven means comprising a pivotally hung pair of drive wheelscarried on a sub frame pivoted on generally parallel pivot arms, inwhich the pair of drive wheels are pressed against the main wheels by ahydraulic cylinder connected between the deck and said sub frame.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1 including a plurality of bracket means mounted tothe bottom of said deck and positioned to extend under the axles of saidaxle carried wheels so as to lift said wheels from the rails when therailway car is lifted by said lifting means.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2in which said motor driven means comprises a drive wheel means driven byhydraulic motor means.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2 in which some of saidbracket means comprises at least two J-shaped bracket members spaced farenough apart to carry said axle carried wheels without tilting.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 2 in which some of said bracket means comprises atleast two U-shaped bracket members encircling the axles and secured tothe deck at both ends of the bracket said U-shaped bracket membersspaced far enough apart to carry said axle carried wheels withouttilting.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1 including latch means to hold thepivotable pair of drive wheels clear of the main wheels.
 7. Theapparatus of claim 6 in which said lifting means comprises hydraulicjacks and including guide bars to keep the hydraulic jacks in alIgnmentwith the rails and further including springs connected between saidjacks and said deck to support said jacks against accidentallycontacting the rails.